I find it interesting how countries use and interpret 'foreign' religious figures. The original inspiration for FF's Shiva is the Hindu deity, Shiva the "destroyer." The main similarity FF's Shiva shares with the Hindu deity is blue skin; otherwise, FF's Shiva is characterized in a completely different way, as the "Ice Queen." Since Square obviously took liberties with their portrayal of Shiva, part of me wonders why they decided to reference the Hindu deity at all?

The FF series has dealt with the topic of religion in the past, most notably with the Yevon religion in FFX. The text in the card is taken from the theme of the upcoming FF Versus XIII. The lyrics in question translate to: The god sleeps / The morning; the time of awakening. These lyrics portray the sleeping god as fearful and destructive, and thus the time of awakening is a time to be feared.

Time: a few hours
Layers: 11

Shiva | Background | Quote